Anonymous Poster <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>As for my post about the Maryland & Ohio show, both of which were AFA
>Sanctioned, The information I read about the Canine Distemper out
>breaks were posted in the FML Archives by the people who were actually
>attending those shows. The one that occurred in MD I believe was
>posted in the early 90s and the one that occured in Ohio I believe was
>posted late 90s early 2000s. If I can find the posts I will send them
>into Big to be republished again if he allows it.

Now, I will admit off the bat that there was a period of about 8 years
where I did not attend shows or breed ferrets because of ADV. And so,
there may be things that happened at shows that I am unaware of. But,
I do read the FML, and do not ever remember seeing posts about a CDV
outbreak at a show in Ohio.

I do remember an incident, though, that occurred after the Cincinnati
show in 1998. That show was not an AFA show, though, it was a LIFE/LOS
show. Most of the judges at the show were LOS judges, while I believe
LIFE was the official sponsoring organization.

After the show, a breeder from MD had one of her ferrets that was at
the show become extremely ill. The ferret was not one she had bred, but
one she had purchased from a breeder from MI. At the show, I purchased
a sibling of the ferret that got ill.

Now, the owner of the ferret immediately said the ferret had gotten
Distemper from the distemper vaccination it had received, even though
the symptoms were not at all like the common symptoms of distemper. She
began taking the ferret to my vet, and I happened to be there at the
same time she was on one of her visits. I had some 8 week old kits with
me that night, and was concerned both about the possibility distemper
exposure, as well as the concern that since this ferret was a litter
mate to one of mine, if it was something other than distemper, my
ferret might also be prone to getting whatever it was. As a result, I
was privy to some information the owner never made public.

The ferret eventually had to be euthanized, and a necropsy was done.
Tissue samples were sent to An-Tech, and my vet also kept some tissue
samples. Blood test had been run before the ferret was euthanized, but
no ADV test was done (this was before ADV was a big concern) and no
titer level was obtained on the distemper antibodies.

The An-Tech report came back, and basically stated that while no active
distemper virus was found, the damage to the organs was similar to what
would be seen in a ferret with distemper. The conclusions were
inconclusive, but admitted it was a possible distemper infection. This
is what the owner went with, despite later reports and finding on the
ferret's tissue.

After talking with several other ferret knowledgeable vets, including,
I think, Dr. Susan Brown, my vet decided to send the remaining tissue
samples out to another 2 labs that had pathologists that were more
familiar with ferrets and ferret diseases.

Both reports came back saying that no active viral infection was found,
including no distemper virus. They noted that some of the changes in
the organ tissue were similar to what might be seen in a ferret with
distemper, but they did not consider that definitive, since other
diseases could cause similar damage. They did find active fungal
encephalitis, and another bacterial infection, and stated that between
the 2, those could also have caused the damage seen in the organ tissue
samples. Their conclusions were that the ferret had fungal encephalitis
and another bacterial infection.

Fortunately, no other ferrets that attended that show in Cincinnati
became sick, either with distemper or with fungal encephalitis, so even
if the cause of the one ferret's death was distemper, that is hardly an
outbreak.

BTW - the owner of the ferret that got sick and died was eventually
banned for life from showing at AFA shows, but was welcomed into LOS
shows.

Danee DeVore
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know! 
For more information visit: 
<http://www.ferretadv.com>

ADV - Find out how you can help:
http://help4adv.terrabox.com/

[Posted in FML 6394]